Scotland have disciplined six players – including captain Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell – for going out for drinks on returning from the Italy game in Rome last week.
Hogg, Russell, scrum-half Ali Price, Darcy Graham, Sam Johnson and Sione Tuipulotu were ordered to return to the team hotel after leaving for a bar in Edinburgh, in breach of team protocols, the BBC reported.
Hogg, Price, Graham and Johnson will all start the game against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday. Russell is on the bench and Tuipulotu was released to be part of Glasgow’s squad for the 1872 Cup match against Edinburgh.
Russell’s exit in 2020
Finn Russell could make Scotland return after rift healed with boss Gregor Townsend
Russell famously broke team protocols in 2020, which led to him being dropped for the team to play in Dublin that year. He eventually left the squad for that entire spring, only returning for the Covid-delayed Six Nations game against Wales in October.
A statement from the Scotland team management declined to identify the players or the punishment involved.
“The Scotland management team have this week dealt with a post-match matter involving six players following the game against Italy last weekend,” it read.
“The players involved have been spoken to individually. Those conversations and outcomes will remain private.
“Preparations for the match against Ireland this week have been good. The whole squad is fully focused on achieving a positive result on Saturday.”
Camp unity now looks fractured
The Scots have given a reasonable impression of a tight and disciplined camp since the Russell affair. The focus has been on discipline, togetherness and “wellness” largely driven by Hogg as captain.
This seemed to serve them well during the Covid lockdowns with the team confined to barracks at their Oriam base. It even seemed to have a clear effect in terms of results, until this championship at least.
However Hogg’s own involvement in this latest breach of protocols drives a coach and horses through that. The united front of head coach Gregor Townsend and the captain over the last two years seems to have unravelled.
This latest incident does not seem to have influenced selection for the final game in Dublin. Four of the six are retained in the team. Tuipulotu was likely to have been left out for Mark Bennett on the bench anyway.
Russell’s demotion to the bench may have been a factor. But Townsend has been keen to try Blair Kinghorn at 10 in a major game for some time.